Bank of Montreal : Banks and insurance companies get court order to hold electronic annual meetings

TORONTO — Canada's biggest banks and life insurance companies are moving to hold their annual meetings using electronic means.

They say they will conduct the meetings through webcasting or teleconferences instead of in-person gatherings.

The Canadian banks and insurance companies say they have obtained a court order that will allow them to make the change in lieu of in-person annual meetings.

The move was sparked by an outbreak in the novel coronavirus, which has caused several of the companies to close brick-and-mortar locations and ask employees to work from home.

The banks included in the court order are the Bank of Montreal, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, TD Bank Group, Laurentian Bank, National Bank of Canada and Canadian Western Bank

The insurance companies who teamed up with the banks to seek the order include Great-West Lifeco, Canada Life, Manulife Financial Corp. and Sun Life Financial Inc.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 20, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BMO, TSX:CM, TSX:RY, TX:BNS, TSX:TD, TSX:LB, TSX:NA, TSX:CWB, TSX:GWO, TSX:LFE, TSX:MFC, TSX:SLF)

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